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We got ahead of ourselves this week and had two local meals which is of course, never a problem. Two years ago, I had made something very similar to this when I was home alone, which is why when husband suggested it as something new, I said OH that old thing, been there, done that, completely forgetting that he hadn’t! So, here we have Philly Cheesesteak stuffed peppers which turned out great. On the side are french fries with homemade fruit ketchup using peaches from our tree. Next is a salad with blue cheese dressing and bacon. Finally, to round out the dinner, Blackberry wine. The whole thing was delicious and disappeared quickly! It made for great leftovers too, the mark of a really excellent dinner.

We’ve gotten rather ahead of ourselves with One Local Summer, so I’m going to double up this week with two posts to get back on track. Sometimes we just cook local meals by default and then I forget what week we’re on and things all go crazy. I figure doing extra local meals isn’t a bad thing and since we made them, I might as well share them! So, here’s a catchup post and in two weeks I’ll be all caught up, I hope.

We dug into the freezer for this one and found a Bison roast. Husband rubbed it down with freshly ground pepper and salt and put it on the rotisserie on the grill. While I realize it may be blasphemous to red meat eaters, the end chunk was cooked nicely well done (brown the whole way through) but was still tender and DELICIOUS. Also cooked on the grill were those skewers with zucchini and tomatoes, covered in olive oil, salt, and pepper, then there’s a cucumber salad with red wine and vinegar, and finally the salad bowl just like every week, with the same mix of greens and vegetables. It all came out great, and we found a local Cabernet Sauvignon to pair with the dinner.

After last week, I knew that I’d be going with asparagus again. Not wanting to just grill it again, I found a recipe for bacon-wrapped asparagus. Well, bacon-wrapped anything is delicious, so this seemed like a fantastic plan. The result is that the plate looks a lot like the one from last week with a few changes. What can I say, when something works, it works! Another salad (MMM GREEENNNSS, said like a vegetarian zombie), grilled mushrooms, that bacon-wrapped asparagus, and a chunk of bison sausage. Finished off with a cool glass of water to end a yucky hot and humid day, and it was a great, easy, meal all cooked on the grill.

And now we’re surpassing the goal of 14 with ease! I think this is the best attempt at cooking Bison Ribs the husband has ever had. They’re a little tricky being much lower in fat and need to be cooked low and slow. The ribs were back ribs and were put in the smoker with apple wood, cooked for about 4 hours resulting in DELICIOUS ribs. On the side we have those popular corn fritters, a grilled peach with melted blue cheese, and a bowl in the back with tomatoes from the garden, a sprig of basil, and some local cheese. The wine is a homemade mead made partially with cherries I picked in Maryland and was a great match to the rest of dinner.

Another meal down, just three more to go to make the goal line. I was on my own again for this meal, but I had this idea in mind for a while. It’s a Philly Cheesesteak on a sourdough roll with Chanterelle mushrooms and blue cheese. When the right mushroom came along for the last meal, I saved some for this dinner. I’d been working on a sourdough starter for a while and got it going really well with the same flour from the Eggplant Parm, Meal 9. I decided to make rolls for the sandwiches instead of a loaf of bread because I wanted more of a roll shape. I let them rise up in a standard cereal bowl, but should’ve let them go a little longer. The rolls came out a bit dense, but still had a wonderful sourdough flavor. The mushrooms and onions were sauteed together, added to the bison chip steak, and the roll was given a thick coat of the blue cheese spread. Going counter clockwise around the plate, we have grilled eggplant, blue potato fries, and some green beans. The whole thing made for a really great dinner, and the fancy mushrooms and blue cheese worked very well with the bison making for a delicious fancy-pants cheesesteak.